The Teach For America Bait and Switch: From 'You’ll Be Making a Difference' to 'You’re Making Excuses' | Alternet

The Teach For America Bait and Switch: From 'You’ll Be Making a Difference' to 'You’re Making Excuses' | Alternet:

The Teach For America Bait and Switch: From 'You’ll Be Making a Difference' to 'You’re Making Excuses'

Idealistic young people are lured by TFA's promises. But what happens once they're placed in classrooms has left some alums questioning the organization's approach.

Editor's note: In the decade and a half of its existence, Teach For America has trained upwards of 50,000 individuals to enter classrooms nationwide and "make a difference" in the lives of children -- usually those living in poverty. But the question of how prepared these individuals are to deal with the realities faced by the children they teach and meet their educational needs has long been in question.

In the following excerpt, taken from an essay in the newly published book,Teach For America Counter-Narratives: Alumni Speak Up and Speak Out,one former TFA corps member shares her account of her time with the organization, alleging that TFA both "preyed on [her] naïveté of the lived realities of urban schooling" and "exploited [her] desire to 'make a difference.'" Her disillusionment with the organization and its educational philosophy grew so deep, in fact, that she resigned after just 6 months.

The Bait

On the urging of a friend and campus recruiter, I applied to join TFA in October of my senior year at the University of Notre Dame. After a multipart interview process, I was accepted into the program’s Greater New Orleans region. Soon afterwards, TFA began to effectively use social networks to bolster my desire to join. Former classmates and undergraduate campus recruiters reached out and stressed how wonderful it was that I had gotten into such a selective organization. My interviewer called to congratulate me on a job well done. After being bombarded with so many congratulations, I couldn’t help but feel proud that I had passed through such a selective hiring process.

The official TFA recruiter on my campus held events for accepted corps members after each hiring deadline, offering free drinks and appetizers at an on-campus restaurant. I found it strange how much money TFA, a nonprofit organization, spent on us. We wore name tags, ate food, and discussed our excitement about the upcoming school year. Our recruiter, like the other TFA corps members and staff who had reached out to me, stressed the “prestige” of the program and how much TFA would help us in the future. He himself was a former TFA corps member who taught for 3 years before joining the recruiting arm of the organization. I found his enthusiasm for TFA contagious as he pointed out TFA’s connections with graduate schools and the numerous opportunities that would be afforded to us post-TFA.

At the time, I was impressed by how many corps members were still involved The Teach For America Bait and Switch: From 'You’ll Be Making a Difference' to 'You’re Making Excuses' | Alternet:

Peg with Pen: Some Thoughts about the History of Opt Out

Peg with Pen: Some Thoughts about the History of Opt Out:

Some Thoughts about the History of Opt Out

Right now there is a lot of discussion around the history of Opt Out. Ultimately Opt Out has been around for years. Here in Colorado, Don Perl refused to administer the test to his students in 2001- for starters!

And while I appreciate the work and historical sharing of Opt Out via NPE it's important to recognize that Opt Out began long before any of us - including UOO. And, in actuality, New York Opt Out began as a result of NY folks attending UOO's Occupy the DOE - folks like Susan Schutt, Jean Schutt McTavish, Sara Wottawa, Gail DeBonis Richmond, Elizabeth Loizidis Lynch, Susan Horton Polos, and Kris Nielsen, all from NY came to Occupy DOE 2.0 and took Opt Out straight back to NY. They have always stated clearly that UOO's Occupy the DOE was the catalyst for Opt Out in NY. (my apologies if I forgot anyone  - see the schedule for additional folks from NY who also spoke!)

On March 2, 2013, Jeanette Deutermann (current LI Opt Out Leader) contacted me for support with Opt Out. Chris Cerrone had already started Opt Out in New York and I directed Jeanette to Chris Cerrone. So, NY Opt Out had already begun - I just think it's important to Peg with Pen: Some Thoughts about the History of Opt Out:

Education is a fundamental human right – which is why private schools must be resisted | Kishore Singh | Global development | The Guardian

Education is a fundamental human right – which is why private schools must be resisted | Kishore Singh | Global development | The Guardian:

Education is a basic human right – which is why private schools must be resisted

Privatisation of education has a devastating impact, aggravating inequality, so why does the development community fund profit-seeking providers?

At the beginning of the new millennium, the international community made a commitment to achieve universal primary education for all boys and girls. Today, 15 years later, we find huge gaps between these commitments and reality.

Across the world, 58 million children still don’t have access to schools, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia. Millions more fail to graduate, or fail to learn what they need toparticipate in society meaningfully.

Capitalising on the inability of governments to cope with rising demands on public learning, private education providers are mushrooming. I see this not as progress, but as an indictment of governments that have failed to meet their obligation to provide universal, free and high-quality education for all.

Education is not a privilege of the rich and well-to-do; it is the inalienable right of every child. The state must discharge its responsibility as guarantor and regulator of education as a fundamental human entitlement and as a public cause. The provision of basic education, free of cost, is not only a core obligation of states but also a moral imperative.

Privatisation cripples the notion of education as a universal human right and – by aggravating marginalisation and exclusion – runs counter to the fundamental principles of human rights law. It creates social inequity.

The admission policy in private schools is based on the ability to pay, and on the socio-economic background of parents. As a result, private schools lack the diversified system of learning and cultural plurality that is so necessary today. They promote market economy values rather than the humanist mission of education.

Disturbingly, some in the international community are pushing for greater privatisation in education. The World Bank, a longstanding supporter of the approach, has recently been joined by other international bodies. At the end of 2014, the African Development Bank, the UN Economic Commission for Africa, the African Union commission, and the UN Development Programme released a report promoting increased private sector involvement in education. The study concluded that “Africa must build a vibrant private sector that supports the development of a dynamic primary education system”. This call has been echoed by some government officials in Africa and elsewhere.

In the 1980s and 90s, when developing countries first made significant cuts to their public health and education spending under structural adjustment, Education is a fundamental human right – which is why private schools must be resisted | Kishore Singh | Global development | The Guardian:

MINORITY ADMINISTRATORS FACILITATE CONTINUED LAUSD AND CHARTERS' FAILURE - Perdaily.com

MINORITY ADMINISTRATORS FACILITATE CONTINUED LAUSD AND CHARTERS' FAILURE - Perdaily.com:

MINORITY ADMINISTRATORS FACILITATE CONTINUED LAUSD AND CHARTERS' FAILURE

(Mensaje se repite en Español)

There is an exquisitely sick irony to the fact that segregated and purposefully maintained inferior inner city public education could not be maintained at the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and elsewhere in this country without the administrative participation of the same minorities it keeps in their unachieving places. Unless minority administrators were willing to turn momma's picture to the wall and follow orders- for a six-figure salary and a place at the privatization feast at public expense- real positive change in public education could rather easily be achieved at far less expense and in a relatively short period of time.

I say ironically because the willingness of minority leadership to sell out the inherent intelligence of Black and Latino children to assure that they never reach their potential is both deplorable and at the same time a negation of racism. Why? Because irrespective of race what all human beings have shown themselves regrettably capable of is a willingness to do pretty much anything for a large enough pile of bucks and benefits.

The minority administrator's rationale goes something like this: Better I initial play along with what I know to be a racist system of public education to get into a position of power. Then, once I have the power, I will be able to effetuate real change. But as these minority administrators continue moving up and compromising their core values, they never seem to get to a place where they can effectuate meaningful change without jeopardizing their of careers- and that is not MINORITY ADMINISTRATORS FACILITATE CONTINUED LAUSD AND CHARTERS' FAILURE - Perdaily.com:

NYC Public School Parents: Notes from Grover Cleveland HS receivership hearing and the Chancellor's "Framework for Great Schools"

NYC Public School Parents: Notes from Grover Cleveland HS receivership hearing and the Chancellor's "Framework for Great Schools":

Notes from Grover Cleveland HS receivership hearing and the Chancellor's "Framework for Great Schools"

There were about fifty people in the audience for the Grover Cleveland High School receivership hearings yesterday -- not great for a school that enrolls nearly 2,000 students, but not terrible considering it was a beautiful Saturday morning and the hearing announcement was made just a few days before.

I entered the auditorium at about 10:20 AM, as someone from the DOE whose name I didn’t catch was wrapping up a brief presentation about Receivership schools, saying that the administration was still considering whether and how “receivership schools will get Renewal [school] type supports and funding.”

Principal Denise Vittor followed with a power point presentation about how the school was improving its graduation rate and attendance – the two data points that apparently had placed it on the state list of “struggling schools” for possible Receivership. 

The four-year June graduation rate last year rose to 60.7% compared to 53% in 2012-13; the August four-year rate is 62.5% compared to 60.2% two years before.  If only those students eligible for a regular diploma were counted, its four year rate was up to 63.9%.   Apparently 2.2% of the students are severely disabled, and according to the principal, only “eligible” for the alternate credentials of the SACC (Skills and Achievement Commencement Credential) or the CDOS (Career Development and Occupational Studies Commencement Credential.) The six year graduation rate increased to 69.5%, and attendance at 82.5% last year, compared to 78% in 2012-13.

She then went on to describe various programs the schools had instituted, including “Common Core aligned curriculum units,” AP courses, a Saturday academy, Afterschool Expanded Learning Time, blended learning and CTE programs. The one new program for this year is NYC Public School Parents: Notes from Grover Cleveland HS receivership hearing and the Chancellor's "Framework for Great Schools":

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Ed Reform Both on the Move/Slowly Imploding

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Ed Reform Both on the Move/Slowly Imploding:

Ed Reform Both on the Move/Slowly Imploding

There have been a number of hugely important ed reform stories from around the country in the last couple of weeks.  But naturally, my focus was on the strike and the charter law ruling. 

Here's what has been happening in Florida and California.

Two big stories out of Florida; one is about the Gates Foundation leaving one district holding the financial bag on a huge project, the other is about Florida superintendents' letter of no confidence in their state testing.

From the Tampa Bay Times:

A seven-year effort to put better teachers in Hillsborough County schools is costing the system millions of dollars more than officials projected. And the district's partner in the project, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is spending $20 million less than expected. 

The numbers, found in recent reports, differ significantly from what was commonly understood about the high-profile partnership, known as Empowering Effective Teachers. The district was to raise $102 million Seattle Schools Community Forum: Ed Reform Both on the Move/Slowly Imploding:

Jersey Jazzman: The Reformy Arguments Are Getting Worse

Jersey Jazzman: The Reformy Arguments Are Getting Worse:

The Reformy Arguments Are Getting Worse

Peter Cunningham started Education Post because he wanted a "better conversation" about education. That sounds great to me -- so I wish he would follow through and stop publishing illogical, incoherent claptrap like this piece from Michael Vaughn:

But it’s getting harder and harder to see the teachers unions as fighting for the common good when they’re so often fighting against what is clearly good for kids. 

The all-out assault on and demonizing of charter schools is the clearest example. Millions of children have access to a good education—an education that their families chose for them—because of the existence of charter schools. That is a powerful common good.

Except it's not a "common" good when those charter schools clearly serve a different student population than their neighboring public district schools: fewer Limited English Proficient students, fewer students with disabilities (particularly the more profound disabilities), and fewer in the deepest level of economic disadvantage. Further, there is - See more at: http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-reformy-arguments-are-getting-worse.html?spref=tw#sthash.PluyrHwC.dpuf

The Power of Opt Out to Preserve Public Education – The Network For Public Education

The Power of Opt Out to Preserve Public Education – The Network For Public Education:

The Power of Opt Out to Preserve Public Education

Jeanette Deutermann did not intend to become the leader of the most effective opt out organization in the United States. She was a suburban mom trying to figure out why her son no longer wanted to go to school.

The year that Long Island Opt Out began, Tyler Deutermann was an unhappy fourth grader with school anxiety that was increasing every day. During the month of February of 2012, Jeanette began investigating why her son who once loved school so much, now hated it.

“I saw it emerge a little bit during testing season in third grade”, Deutermann said. “But then the test anxiety became constant in fourth grade. After speaking with teachers and parents, I knew it was the testing.”

The 2011-12 school year was the first year that teachers in New York State were to be evaluated by the test scores of their students. Anxiety across the board was running high. She read a letter sign​ed by over one third of New York’s principals that explained why evaluating teachers by test scores would have unintended negative consequences on students. Jeanette began to connect the dots, and she realized that high-stakes testing was the reason that her child and his The Power of Opt Out to Preserve Public Education – The Network For Public Education:

Allentown Student Activists Prepare to Walkout of Classes on September 28 | Raging Chicken Press

Allentown Student Activists Prepare to Walkout of Classes on September 28 | Raging Chicken Press:

Allentown Student Activists Prepare to Walkout of Classes on September 28

Instead of watching their schools die a slow death by defunding and neglect, a group of Allentown students is taking their education to the streets during the week of September 28 – October 2. In press release issued earlier today, the United Youth of Allentown announced their intention to walk out of classes on the morning of September 28, if the Allentown School Board refuses to address their demands for a quality education.

Last week, Danay, an Allentown school student was interviewed on the Rick Smith Show about some of the organizing taking place (check out that interview RIGHT HERE).  At the end of the interview, Danay indicated that an action was on the horizon, but she did not want to provide details at that point. Today’s press release seemed to answer any questions about what the students were planning.

According to the press release, upwards of 600 students are expected to walk out and march to theMartin Luther and Coretta Scott King Memorial on Harry A. Roberts Plaza located at the intersection of Union Street & Martin Luther King Drive in Allentown. The connection between their fight for quality education and the history of the civil rights movement is not lost on them:

We the STUDENTS of Allentown School District have decided to WALK OUT on school days September 28th – October 2nd to peacefully assemble at the Martin Luther King Statue next to Parkettes. We have decided to stand up for our rights at this particular monument because we share in the fight that Dr. King fought for during the civil rights era. We do not feel the education system is providing us the best opportunities to become successful adults. The fact that you have a neighboring school district in Parkland that is one of the TOP performing districts meanwhile Allentown is at the 

Allentown Student Activists Prepare to Walkout of Classes on September 28 | Raging Chicken Press:

Florida’s Superintendents Have Officially “Lost Confidence” in the State’s Teacher and School Evaluation System | VAMboozled!

Florida’s Superintendents Have Officially “Lost Confidence” in the State’s Teacher and School Evaluation System | VAMboozled!:

Florida’s Superintendents Have Officially “Lost Confidence” in the State’s Teacher and School Evaluation System

In an article written by Valerie Strauss and featured yesterday in The Washington Post, school superintendents throughout the state of Florida have officially declared to the state that they have “lost confidence” in Florida’s teacher and school evaluation system (clickhere for the original article). More specifically, state school superintendents submitted a letter to the state asserting that “they ‘have lost confidence’ in the system’s accuracy and are calling for a suspension and a review of the system” (click here also for their original letter).

This is the evaluation model instituted by Florida’s former governor Jeb Bush, whom we all also identify as the brother of former President George W. Bush and son of former President George H. W. Bush. Former President GW Bush was also the architect of what most now agree is the failed No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001, that former President GW Bush put forth as federal policy given his “educational reforms” in the state of Texas in the late 1990s. Beyond this brotherly association, however, Jeb is also currently a running candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, and via his campaign he is also (like his brother, pre-NCLB) touting his “educational reforms” in the state of Florida, hoping to take these reforms also to the White House.

It is Jeb Bush’s “educational reforms” that, without research evidence in support, also became models of “educational reform” for other states around the country, including states like New Mexico. In New Mexico, the state in which its current evaluation system, as based on the Florida model, is at the core of a potentially significant lawsuit (see prior posts about this lawsuit here, here, here, and here). Not surprisingly, one of Jeb Bush’s protégés – Hanna Skandera, who is currently the state of New Mexico’s Secretary of its Public Education Department (PED) – took Bush’s model to even more of an extreme, making this particular model one of the most arbitrary and capricious of all such models currently in place throughout the U.S. (as also defined and detailed more fully here).

Hence, it should certainly be of interest to those in New Mexico (and other states) that the teacher and school evaluation model upon which their state model was built, is now apparently falling apart, at least for now.

“The superintendents [in Florida] are calling for the state to suspend the system for a year Florida’s Superintendents Have Officially “Lost Confidence” in the State’s Teacher and School Evaluation System | VAMboozled!:

Award-Winning Filmmakers Reveal How Big Business is Dismantling our Public School System - CNN iReport

Award-Winning Filmmakers Reveal How Big Business is Dismantling our Public School System - CNN iReport:

Award-Winning Filmmakers Reveal How Big Business is Dismantling our Public School System

Filmmakers Jack Paar and Ron Halpern are creating a film that will blow the lid off of the corruption that is behind the corporate takeover of public education. "Corporatized" has been called the anti "Waiting for Superman" film.

In 2014, Jack Paar attended a rally for teachers, parents, and students in Washington, D.C. with his wife, an elementary school teacher. Jack says, "Before the rally in D.C., I didn't really know that big business was taking over our public schools, nor did I understand why it was problematic. I know that there are others who don't understand the real problems with our public education system because big business is really good at blaming it all on the teachers. However, it's not the teachers who are to blame. It's the fault of greedy politicians like Scott Walker, Chris Christie, Andrew Cuomo, and Arne Duncan, who are owned by greedy, big business: Pearson Learning, Gates Foundation, Walton Family, Eli Broad, Koch Brothers, and Bradley Foundation. To them your children are simply a dollar sign. So, we've decided to create a film that will reach a diverse audience and provide them with hard facts and heartfelt messages from dedicated teachers, parents, and students."

Currently, Paar and Halpern are raising funds through a Kickstarter campaign. At $155,000, their goal may seem lofty. But, their goal is to draw national and possibly international attention to the cause, which requires a great deal of funding. Compared to Michael Moore's $9 million budget for "Sicko", 155k is a drop in the bucket.

DONATE HERE | KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN

“Corporatized” pulls back the curtain on the charade to reveal how big business is doing a devastating disservice to our public school students, and how they are dismantling and destroying the teaching profession in the name of profit.

Each year, over $500 billion of taxpayer money is used to fund the U.S. public education system. In today’s era of privatization, it was only a matter of time before corporate education reformers figured out a way to get at that money.

They didn’t just steal it. These savvy, corporate raiders are too smart for that. What they’ve done is create an elaborate scheme to funnel that money in their direction. The testing mania, brought on by No Child Left Behind, is part of their scheme. Sounds legit, and looks legit to the layman. But, the devastation this is causing to public education may be terminal… if we don’t take Award-Winning Filmmakers Reveal How Big Business is Dismantling our Public School System - CNN iReport:

Kindergarten teacher’s fear: Testing my students into failure - The Washington Post

Kindergarten teacher’s fear: Testing my students into failure - The Washington Post:

Kindergarten teacher’s fear: Testing my students into failure

Robyn Noble is a public school kindergarten teacher in Providence, R.I., who has become alarmed at the excessive standardized testing of young children, as well as the design of the exams and what is — and is not — done with the results. Noble sent me an e-mail saying that her students will soon be taking the Star Early Literary Test and explaining what she thinks about the exercise.

The Star Early Literary Test, according to the Renaissance Learning Web site, assesses “eight key domains of early literacy and numeracy.” The eight domains are print concepts, vocabulary acquisition and use, phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, fluency, counting and cardinality, operations and algebraic thinking, measurement and data. The Web site says that “145 skills are grouped into 32 closely-related skill areas” and that “the domains and skills below are grouped into three major areas that relate to CCSS standards.” CCSS refers to the Common Core State Standards (and it is worth noting here that many early childhood education experts have expressed concerns that the standards for the youngest students are not developmentally appropriate).

[Report: Requiring kindergartners to read — which Common Core does — may harm some]

Here’s what Noble wrote in her e-mail, which I am publishing with her permission:

My kindergartners will take this test on Tuesday, their 15th day of school. I’m sure most of them will score at the bottom of the scale since this uses vocabulary they have never heard before: beginning sound, vowel sound; and words which they have no idea how to read. The math pictures are difficult for even me to decipher. The directions on how to take the test, using the keyboard or mouse are also quite confusing. My students have grown up on touch screens, so the return to the mouse, I’m sure, will be baffling.

I will learn a lot more about my students as I watch them take the test, than I will from their test scores. These scores will be used to 

Kindergarten teacher’s fear: Testing my students into failure - The Washington Post:

Dear Liv: Yes, A Loss for ALEC and the Privatizers Makes Me Happy | Seattle Education

Dear Liv: Yes, A Loss for ALEC and the Privatizers Makes Me Happy | Seattle Education:

Dear Liv: Yes, A Loss for ALEC and the Privatizers Makes Me Happy

The following is a response to Liv Finne who is a Director at the Washington Policy Center in our state and a member of ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, published a piece after the Washington State Supreme Court brought down their decision that charter schools are not “Common Schools” per our state constitution and therefore cannot receive public funding.

Ms. Finne wrote an editorial that became a personal attack on Waye Au, one of the plaintiffs in the State Supreme Court case.

To follow is his response.

Dear Liv: Yes, A Loss for ALEC and the Privatizers Makes Me Happy

By Wayne Au

Wayne Au likes to close schools.  The U.W.-Bothell associate professor writes …that September 4, 2015, the day six state supreme court justices voted to defund charter schools in communities across the state, “was a good day for me.” 

Saying it “felt like a personal victory,” Au proudly announces himself as “a very vocal opponent” of voter-approved Initiative 1240 and of allowing children to attend a public charter school.  His unrestrained glee almost jumps off the page. – Liv Finne, “Charter opponent expresses joy at school closures.”

On September 4, 2015, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that charter schools here in Washington were unconstitutional because they received public monies but were not subject to publicly elected governance. I had been deeply involved in the struggles against charter schools in Washington State, and expressed my happiness about the ruling in a piece published in the Washington Post. My essay was subsequentlyrepublished under a different title at CommonDreams, and then republished under yet another title in the newsletter of the Washington State Labor Council newsletter, The Stand. Then, on September 17, 2015, Liv Finne and the Washington Policy Center attacked me personally, citing The Stand, for my response to the charter school ruling.

What Liv Finne and the Washington Policy Center wrote about me was rambling, off Dear Liv: Yes, A Loss for ALEC and the Privatizers Makes Me Happy | Seattle Education:

Schools Matter: Eli Broad's California Strategy, Part 2: Shrinking Organized Labor and Increasing Control of Parents

Schools Matter: Eli Broad's California Strategy, Part 2: Shrinking Organized Labor and Increasing Control of Parents:
Eli Broad's California Strategy, Part 2: Shrinking Organized Labor and Increasing Control of Parents

Broad's plan to claim half of Los Angeles schools over the next 8 years for corporate welfare charter companies is specific in its grandiosity.  See Part 1 here.

The first chart below shows the Broadie vision for how paternalistic "no excuses" charters will replace the most vulnerable public schools. 

By 2023, Broadies expect the number of charter students in corporate reform schools to outnumber those students in public schools.

As apartheid charter schools replace highest poverty and lowest scoring publics, the number of union members will also decline, as the chart below shows.  Notice that maintaining both poverty and standardized testing are critical for this strategy to work.

And as the number of charter parents increases, their gathered bodies will become useful tools for the charter public relation machines for exerting political pressure.  Note that parental participation "will be expected."

Schools Matter: Eli Broad's California Strategy, Part 2: Shrinking Organized Labor and Increasing Control of Parents:

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Edureading for the Week

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Edureading for the Week:

ICYMI: Edureading for the Week

Shortly I have to run up to school and start undecorating from last night's Homecoming Dance (woo-hoo), but I still have time to give you some reading suggestions for your Sunday.

The Cost of Ignoring Developmentally Appropriate Practice

We still love the idea that the faster we move a child through childhood, the more advanced they will be. Here's a good article, in clear layman's terms, about why that's just not true-- and all the trouble we cause when we try to make it true.

Who's the Real Liar?

Jersey Jazzman's once again comes through with charts and graphs and explanations in plain English, so that you can see just why all this baloney about higher failing rates and tests now telling us the real truth about how well our students are learning is a big bunch of horse patootie.

Do The Rights Thing

Want to see a group of kids that you can feel excited about and support? Edushyster has the group for you.

Why I Oppose Early Endorsement

Word on the street is that NEA is poised to give Hillary Clinton an early endorsement. In her own response to that bad idea, Marie Corfield also provides some links to many of the pieces out there on the subject.

Boehner's Exit and the ESEA Reauthorization

What does John Boehner's exit mean to the NCLB rewrite? Nothing good, as Mercedes Schneider explains.

School Fight about Gentrification  

In an op-ed that has implications for many locations, Keith E. Benson explains that the fight over schools in Camden NJ is really a proxy battle about who gets to live there.

#DCPS as an all-charter district? | @ THE CHALKFACE

#DCPS as an all-charter district? | @ THE CHALKFACE:

#DCPS as an all-charter district?

This, according to the Washington Post. 

I say no, absolutely no.

In many cases, charter schools are operated by for-profit entities with boards and shareholders. By law, the rights of shareholders are protected. But in the process of ensuring adequate profits on investments, they are forgetting that they are providing education and not the manufacture of widgets. Additional money will not be reinvested in the school and community. It will become profit. Therefore, it is inevitable that some limited public money will be diverted to for-profit corporations. How much depends on how much below cost the schools can operate.

Most of the charters in DC are in low-income and highly segregated areas of the city. Funds to those communities are already limited. It is therefore unreasonable for any money, which could otherwise go to the community, to be siphoned off to fatten investors.

DC Public Schools is mulling the idea of turning over all “failing” schools to charters. One thing that is often cited is the autonomy possible in charters in the face of an unyielding bureaucracy. The District is what is unyielding, they are the bureaucracy. They set the rules, and yet they abhor themselves so much that they’d rather turn their primary means of purpose in this world, their schools, to outside entities.

Why?

Schools are a hot investment. Schools can be operated at well below cost in a number of ways to ensure adequate return on investment. One, cheaper labor can be hired in the form of interns or interim teachers from alternative certification programs, like TFA. Since those teachers are not beholden to union contracts, they don’t require due process or other expensive protections. A scripted curriculum and strict codes of #DCPS as an all-charter district? | @ THE CHALKFACE:

In Mississippi, best teachers don’t go where they are needed most - The Hechinger Report

In Mississippi, best teachers don’t go where they are needed most - The Hechinger Report:

In Mississippi, best teachers don’t go where they are needed most

Low-income, minority schools get by with subs, rookies, and incorrectly licensed staff

Hazlehurst Elementary is one of three schools that make up the Hazlehurst School District, which has previously relied on teachers from Teach For America to fill vacant teacher positions. Photo: Jackie Mader

MERIDIAN, Miss. — Every school year, Meridian mom Cassandra Rhone worries her children’s teachers won’t have enough knowledge and experience.

“I don’t want my kids to have a long line of subs,” said Rhone, who has three children in Meridian’s public schools –— one in second-grade, one in seventh and one in twelfth. “They need teachers who have the right education and know what they’re doing.”

Rhone, who is studying to be a teacher, knows the difference. “They get a sub or someone without a credential and they don’t learn the same,” said Rhone. “They don’t get the work and they don’t get the homework. My kids –— and other kids — end up suffering.”

Rhone’s observations are in line with a recent state report, which shows students in low-income, predominantly black schools like Meridian’s are more likely to have rookie or un-credentialed teachers –— an experience that, when repeated, has been shown by experts to spell academic disaster for students. And that’s something Mississippi, which consistently finds itself behind nearly all other states in academic achievement, can ill afford.

What the state report found

The report was part of a U.S. Department of Education study that examined the reasons poor and minority students fail to get equal access to the best and most qualified teachers –— the lack of which remains a persistent problem in the state. It includes plans to address the inequities by promoting teaching as a profession in high school clubs and vocational programs, while calling for better college teacher education programs to help prepare educators for low-income and high-minority schools.

Related: Are state takeovers fixing Mississippi’s failing districts?

Mississippi’s teacher shortages mirror those in urban districts In Mississippi, best teachers don’t go where they are needed most - The Hechinger Report:

As Commissioner Stewart hypes FSA cyber-attacks, FDLE dismisses case | The Edvocate Blog

As Commissioner Stewart hypes FSA cyber-attacks, FDLE dismisses case | The Edvocate Blog:

As Commissioner Stewart hypes FSA cyber-attacks, FDLE dismisses case

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FLDE) quietly closed its Florida Standards Assessment “cyber-attack” investigation this month citing an inability to identify suspects.  Not surprisingly, Education Commissioner Pam Stewart ignored the FDLE finding at the September Board of Education (BOE) meeting. Instead, she worked mightily to keep the notion of an unknown cyber-villain alive. BOE Member Gary Chartrand spoke of imagined “motives” and his fear of future attacks from what he calls “anti-test” citizen groups. Is he really implying that parents with laptops are behind the failures of the American Institutes of Research (AIR) server?

Last spring students across the state were repeatedly blocked from logging on to the AIR website while attempting to take the FSA. Their work often disappeared mid-test and many students were locked out and forced to start over the following day.  Superintendents at their wits end suspended testingfor days due to confusion.

For years the state used “test security” as the reason to deny parents, teachers and students the transparency of reviewing their tests and understanding exactly how the state arrived at each score. Because of that, it was truly astonishing when no one, including Commissioner Stewart, cared that students saw test questions, went home and came back the next day or even the following week to re-test.

At first, Stewart put the blame on AIR, as this quote from the Tallahassee Democrat illustrates: “The company’s failure to follow protocol is absolutely unacceptable and the department will hold AIR accountable for the disruption they have caused to our state’s students, teachers and school staff,” said Pam Stewart. FSA failures grew exponentially and soon all eyes turned to AIR and Commissioner Stewart.

Determined to deflect blame away from herself, Stewart has repeatedlyAs Commissioner Stewart hypes FSA cyber-attacks, FDLE dismisses case | The Edvocate Blog:

Perdido Street School: Will The Families For Excellent Schools Race Baiting Ad Hurt The Charter Movement?

Perdido Street School: Will The Families For Excellent Schools Race Baiting Ad Hurt The Charter Movement?:

Will The Families For Excellent Schools Race Baiting Ad Hurt The Charter Movement?

Michael Fiorillo on the Families for Excellent Schools race-baiting ad:

Regarding FES's charges of racism against De Blasio, see Projection, Psychological, defined as the psychological phenomenon where humans (or, in Moskowitz's case, a rather toxic facsimile thereof) denies some aspect of their behavior or attitudes, and assumes instead that others are doing or thinking the same thing.

Everything about this episode, from the planning and marketing of the demonstration itself, to this ad, shows how so-called education reform is an ethical Black Hole, where the gravitational pull of greed, power hunger, hypocrisy and manipulation seek to suck in all public resources within reach, while emitting no light whatsoever.

These are bad people, brazenly performing shameful acts. It's fortunate that, after so many years of their vicious lies being given a free pass in media and political circles, they're starting to meet with more exposure and pushback.

I also get the feeling that the other big charter chains are probably not too happy with this. It's long been rumored/reported that they too loathe Eva (though for their own venal reasons) and they clearly like to operate in a less confrontational, faux-friendlier and behind-the-scenes manner. They worry that she'll fuck up their sweet deal with her compulsive belligerence. That's the difference among these characters: KIPP, Uncommon Schools, Democracy Prep are Perdido Street School: Will The Families For Excellent Schools Race Baiting Ad Hurt The Charter Movement?:

Big Education Ape: Families for Excellent Schools, Luke Bronin and the expansion of the Charter School and Corporat... http://bit.ly/1OAg1Yk